19 systems thinking quotes that change how you see problems
Most business problems are system problems disguised as people problems. These quotes from systems thinkers reveal how to see the patterns others miss.
Summary
- 85% of problems are system problems - Deming proved that most failures trace to the system, not the people. Stop blaming workers for process failures.
- Local optimization destroys global performance - Improving one part of a system often makes the whole system worse. See the whole before fixing the parts.
- Feedback loops determine behavior - Systems behave the way they do because of how their parts are connected. Change the connections, change the behavior.
- The obvious solution is usually wrong - Quick fixes create new problems. Systems thinking reveals interventions that actually work. See how Tallyfy applies systems thinking to workflow
Why systems thinking matters
Most people solve problems by looking at what is broken and fixing it. Logical. Obvious. Usually wrong.
Systems thinkers see something different. They see how parts connect. How feedback loops amplify or dampen behavior. How fixing one thing breaks three others. How the obvious solution makes things worse.
From my years building workflow software at Tallyfy, I learned systems thinking the hard way, by implementing solutions that made problems worse. The software that automated a broken process. The incentive that created unintended behaviors. The fix that shifted the problem somewhere else.
These quotes capture how systems thinkers see the world.
On the primacy of systems
Statistician & Quality Management Pioneer
1900-1993
American engineer, statistician, and management consultant who taught Japanese manufacturers post-WWII quality methods. His 14 Points for Management and concept that 85% of problems are systemic transformed manufacturing worldwide.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
"A bad system will beat a good person every time.
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This is Deming’s most important insight. Hire the best people in the world. Put them in a bad system. They will fail.
The system determines performance more than the people in it. Fix the system, and performance improves. Blame the people, and nothing changes.
"Eighty-five percent of the reasons for failure are deficiencies in the systems and process rather than the employee. The role of management is to change the process rather than badgering individuals to do better.
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Deming calculated this from decades of statistical analysis. Only 15% of problems come from individual error. The rest come from how the system is designed.
This inverts how most companies handle problems. Instead of who messed up, ask what about the system allowed this to happen.
"If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.
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A system you cannot describe is a system you cannot improve. The act of describing a process forces clarity. It exposes assumptions, gaps, and invisible dependencies.
We built Tallyfy to make processes visible. When you can see the system, you can fix the system.
On seeing connections
Creator of Theory of Constraints
1947-2011
Israeli business management guru who developed the Theory of Constraints. His novel 'The Goal' became one of the best-selling business books ever, teaching constraint management through storytelling.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
"An hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour lost for the entire system.
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Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints is pure systems thinking. Every system has one constraint that limits output. Improve anything except the constraint, and you improve nothing.
Most companies optimize non-bottlenecks while ignoring the constraint. They get faster at waiting.
"Tell me how you measure me, and I will tell you how I will behave.
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Measurement is a system intervention. Change what you measure, and you change behavior throughout the system. But measuring one thing often creates unintended consequences elsewhere.
Systems thinking asks: if we measure this, what will happen to everything else?
"The goal is not to improve one measurement in isolation. The goal is to reduce operational expenses AND reduce inventories AND increase throughput simultaneously.
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Local optimization is the enemy of system performance. Improving one metric while ignoring others creates false progress. Real improvement improves the system as a whole.
Management Consultant & Author
1909-2005
Austrian-American management consultant widely regarded as the father of modern management. His writings on management theory influenced business practices across the world and helped establish management as a legitimate discipline.
Jeff McNeill, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
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Systems thinking asks: should this part of the system exist? Before optimizing a process, question whether the process should exist. Eliminating unnecessary work improves the system more than speeding it up.
"The bottleneck is always at the top of the bottle.
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Drucker understood that system constraints often come from leadership. The decisions at the top shape what is possible below. Systems thinking examines every level, including the top.
On feedback loops
Founder of Kaizen Institute
1930-present
Japanese organizational theorist who introduced the concept of Kaizen (continuous improvement) to the Western world. His book 'Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success' defined the philosophy of incremental, ongoing improvement.
Kaizen Institute, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"Something is wrong if workers do not look around each day, find things that are tedious or boring, and then rewrite the procedures.
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Systems improve through feedback. The people inside the system see what is broken. When they can feed that knowledge back into system design, improvement happens continuously.
Block the feedback, and the system stagnates.
"Where there is no standard, there can be no kaizen.
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Standards create reference points. Without them, you cannot tell if a change made things better or worse. Improvement requires measuring against a baseline.
CEO of Microsoft
1967-present
Indian-American CEO of Microsoft since 2014, credited with transforming the company's culture from competitive infighting to collaborative growth mindset. His leadership tripled Microsoft's market value.
Microsoft, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"The learn-it-all does better than the know-it-all.
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Nadella introduced a growth mindset at Microsoft. Learning is a feedback loop. Know-it-alls close the loop. Learn-it-alls keep it open.
Organizations that learn continuously adapt their systems. Organizations that think they know stop improving.
On unintended consequences
Father of the Toyota Production System
1912-1990
Japanese industrial engineer who developed the Toyota Production System, the foundation of Lean manufacturing. His innovations in just-in-time production and waste elimination revolutionized manufacturing globally.
Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
"All we are doing is looking at the time line, from the moment the customer gives us an order to the point when we collect the cash. And we are reducing that time line by removing the non-value-added wastes.
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Ohno focused on the whole timeline. Most companies optimize pieces. They speed up one step while slowing down three others. Systems thinking follows the entire flow.
CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
1930-present
American investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, widely regarded as one of the most successful investors in history. Known for his long-term value investing philosophy and candid shareholder letters on business principles.
Mark Hirschey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.
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Systems develop habits. Patterns of behavior that become invisible until they cause problems. By the time you notice them, they are deeply embedded.
Systems thinking reveals these patterns early, before they calcify.
"Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked.
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Buffett is talking about financial risk, but the principle applies to systems. Growth hides systemic problems. Stress reveals them. Systems thinking looks for weaknesses before the tide goes out.
Author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
1932-2012
American educator and author whose book 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' sold over 40 million copies. His time management matrix distinguishing urgent from important work remains foundational to productivity thinking.
US Navy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
"Begin with the end in mind.
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Systems exist to achieve goals. When you lose sight of the goal, you optimize for the wrong things. Systems thinking starts with what the system is supposed to accomplish.
Author of Start With Why
1973-present
British-American author and motivational speaker best known for his concept of 'The Golden Circle' and the idea that great leaders 'start with why.' His TED talk is among the most-watched of all time.
US Marine Corps, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
"A team is not a group of people who work together. It is a group of people who trust each other.
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Trust is a system property. It emerges from how people interact over time. You cannot install trust. You can only create conditions where trust develops.
Systems thinking recognizes that some outcomes emerge from relationships, not designs.
Author & Marketing Thought Leader
1960-present
American author and entrepreneur who has written 21 bestselling books on marketing, leadership, and change. Known for his daily blog and accessible insights on how businesses can thrive by being remarkable.
Joi Ito, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"The more we automate, the more we need people who think critically and creatively.
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Automation changes system dynamics. When routine work is automated, human work shifts to exceptions and creativity. Systems thinking anticipates these shifts.
Co-founder of Alibaba Group
1964-present
Chinese entrepreneur who co-founded Alibaba Group, becoming one of the world's largest e-commerce companies. His insights on technology enabling rather than replacing human work shaped digital transformation thinking in Asia.
World Economic Forum, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
"Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.
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Ma understood that systems change over time. Short-term and long-term dynamics differ. Systems thinking considers temporal patterns, not just current state.
How to think in systems
After years of learning to see systems, some principles have become clear:
Draw the boundaries carefully. What is inside the system? What is outside? Boundaries shape what you see and what you miss.
Follow the flows. Material, information, money, decisions. Follow them through the system. Watch where they speed up, slow down, get stuck.
Find the feedback loops. Reinforcing loops amplify. Balancing loops stabilize. Every system behavior traces to feedback structure.
Question the goal. Systems optimize for their goals. If the system produces bad outcomes, check whether the goal is what you think it is.
Beware quick fixes. The obvious solution often makes things worse. Look for interventions that change structure, not just symptoms.
See delays. Effects are rarely immediate. Today’s actions produce tomorrow’s consequences. Systems thinking accounts for time.
These principles shaped how we built Tallyfy. We see workflows as systems. Connected parts. Feedback loops. Flows and constraints. When you understand the system, you can improve it. When you only see the parts, you optimize in circles.
Because the goal is not faster tasks. The goal is better systems that produce better outcomes.
About the Author
Amit is the CEO of Tallyfy. He is a workflow expert and specializes in process automation and the next generation of business process management in the post-flowchart age. He has decades of consulting experience in task and workflow automation, continuous improvement (all the flavors) and AI-driven workflows for small and large companies. Amit did a Computer Science degree at the University of Bath and moved from the UK to St. Louis, MO in 2014. He loves watching American robins and their nesting behaviors!
Follow Amit on his website, LinkedIn, Facebook, Reddit, X (Twitter) or YouTube.
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